This lecture is hosted by The Aldus Society, and will be an illustrated presentation of Modernism on American publishers' bindings from 1872 to 1930. More than just eye candy, these beautiful book covers show a pervasive form of material culture that was taken for granted for so long that nobody noticed it was art. There are many approaches to collecting in this area, and it can begin with the books already on your shelves. We will focus on examples that are years, and sometimes decades ahead of art movements usually associated with their visual form.

If you are interested in contemporary book art, the creative process, or art criticism, come to my afternoon critique workshop at OSU:

This is a critique workshop sponsored by Ohio State University, with twelve participants presenting works of book art. They may be artists, collectors, curators, dealers, or critics. We don't know until then. I'll start with a short presentation of the "material meets metaphor" critique process, a simple tool for evaluating work during the creative process, for selecting work for exhibition or collecting, and for writing criticism. Then we discuss each work. By the end of the program everyone has a good idea about how to use this process for their own purposes.

Although I have conducted this workshop many times, this is the first it will be presented in front of an audience.